The fate of the Experimental Farm: pros and cons
Healing the sick is most important, now and in future, argues Mohammed Adam.
Enough hand-wringing over the location of the new Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital. Let’s build it on the Central Experimental Farm where it belongs, and I guarantee you the sky will not fall. We will all wake up safe and sane the morning after the decision is made — and the day after the hospital opens 10 years from now, we will all be wondering what the fuss was about.
Since the federal Liberals overturned the decision of the Conservative government to transfer 60 acres of Farm land to The Ottawa Hospital for a new Civic campus, many have worked themselves into a frenzy over the issue. A number of communities identified as potential locations don’t want it, but the most vociferous opposition has come from supporters of the Experimental Farm, where four of the 12 potential sites are located.
Their argument boils down to the fact that the Farm, a National Historic Site and Canada’s premier agricultural research centre, is too valuable to house even as vital a public institution as a hospital. The scientists engaged in important climate-change research have spoken out, adamant that hiving off 60 acres for a hospital would be catastrophic. Advocates argue that taking 50 to 60 acres out of the 1,000-acre site would be the death of the Farm and the work it does.
The Experimental Farm is engaged in important research and has contributed to Canada’s economy. I get that, having done stories as a reporter about the Farm, and visited some of the fields and labs where cutting-edge research is being done. But let’s keep in mind that the Civic is a regional trauma centre. I have also gone behind the curtains to chronicle the great life-saving work doctors and nurses do there.
Listening to some of the Farm’s supporters, however, you’d think some bawdy house was going to be built on sacred land, instead of a public hospital to heal the sick and save lives. Let’s all take a deep breath and let go.
Some have also questioned the need for 60 acres for a big hospital when we could perhaps build a smaller one. Others want climate change to be a defining consideration for a hospital site, and still others have balked at the need for significant roads and parking. Let’s be clear about this $2-billion project: we are building a hospital to last at least 50 years, and just because we consider ourselves a small city today doesn’t mean we will remain small 30, 40, 60 years from now.
We have to have the vision to plan for the day Ottawa will become a big city, so that we will have a hospital that meets our needs. And, yes, hospital authorities should do everything they can to reduce the carbon footprint of the new campus. Climate change is, indeed, one of the biggest threats facing the planet, and everybody has to be part of the solution.
But let’s remember that the
We must build the best hospital we can on the best location available. … the Farm is that location.
overriding goal is to build a hospital to heal the sick, not to promote sustainable living or transportation. In picking a site, the top priority must be how best to serve patients. Let’s plan for as much public transit as we can but be careful not to put the burden of building a sustainable city on the back of the hospital. The danger in doing that is that we will spend billions of dollars and end up with a hospital that falls short of patients’ needs.
A government report says that climate-change work at the Farm would not be compromised by a new Civic campus. That’s reassuring. In this debate, let’s acknowledge that all the people opposed to building the new Civic on the Farm mean well, but, at the end of the day, we must build the best hospital we can on the best location available. There’s no doubt the Farm is that location — and if not the original site, certainly on the vast expanse along Baseline. Let’s do it.